"The earliest manned spaceflight was by cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (USSR)
in Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961. Vostok 1 was launched from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, USSR, at 9:07 a.m. and landed near Smelovka, USSR,
115 minutes later."

115 mins(1961)

"Russain cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev logged a total of 747 days 14 hr. 22 min. on
three spaceflights to the Mir space station from July 1992 to July 1999."

747 days(1992-1996)

"439 Days in Space." New York Times 23 Mar. 1995. New York City.

"After a record 439 days in space, Russia's star astronaut came home today looking
fit and shaking hands with well-wishers."

439 days(1995)

"He and the two other astronauts who returned today left behind a new three-member
crew on the Mir, including an American astronaut, Norman Thagard, who aims
to break the American record of 84 days in space."

84 days(1974)

For decades, men and women have been traveling to space. The first manned spaceflight
occurred on April 12, 1961 by Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin from the USSR. He traveled
aboard the Vostok 1, which orbited the Earth once and returned to the planet
after 108 minutes. However, this was not the end for the Soviets. They had
five more Vostok missions, which included a spaceflight by the first woman
in space, Valentina Tereshkova. On June 19, 1963, Tereshkova was launched into
space aboard the Vostok 6. In addition to being the first woman in space, at
26 years old, Tereshkova was the youngest woman ever to be a part of a space
mission.

In 1974, Gerald Carr, Ed Gibson, and Bill Pogue set a US endurance record of
84 days in space aboard the Skylab. However, in 1995, an American astronaut
by the name of Norman Thagard broke this record by spending 114 days in space
aboard the Russian's Mir space station.

Over the years, space travel has changed. In the beginning, spaceflights only
lasted a few hours or days. At the present time, the record for the longest
spaceflight goes to Valery Poliyakov (there are different spellings of his
name in English). Poliyakov was a doctor from Russia who spent 437 days 17
hr. 58 min. 16 sec. aboard the Soyuz TM18. On January 8, 1994, he was launched
to the Mir Station. He returned to Earth, aboard the Soyuz TM20, on March 22,
1995.

There are many other interesting records related to human spaceflight. On March
14, 1995, a record number of thirteen people were in space at one time. Seven
of them were Americans that were on the STS 67 Endeavour, three cosmonauts
were on the Mir space station, and an astronaut from the United States, along
with two cosmonauts, were aboard Soyuz TM21.

There is also a record for the most cumulative amount of time in space. This
achievement is held by Sergei Avdeyev, a Russian cosmonaut. He spent a total
of 747 days on three separate spaceflights from 1992 to 1999.